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Saturday, March 25, 2006

I-575 and 2 More Counties Clinched!!!

This afternoon, my wife and I decided to get out of the house for a while and do some "roadgeeking" in the nearby North Georgia mountains.

As a result, I finally "clinched" I-575 and added both Pickens and Gilmer Counties to my county collection... WOO-HOO!!! :)

Here are some of the many photos I took during our 2-hour jaunt....

The first photo below is the last distance sign on I-575/GA 5 northbound, just 3 miles (5 km) before it turns into GA 5/515 (Zell Miller Mountain Parkway/Appalachian Developmental Highway "Corridor A")...

Interestingly enough, who other than roadgeeks or highway folks would know what "APD" stands for? IMHO, I would've substituted "GA Hwy 515" for "APD Hwy", since most folks know this particular road as "515".

The next photo is the exit for a scenic view located on GA 5/515 northbound just north of Jasper...

The next picture below is a view of GA 5/515 and the Appalachians looking south toward Jasper...

... and finally, here's a picture of me at the Zell Miller Mountain Parkway monument located at this particular scenic view.

Zell Miller, a native of Towns County, was a long time politician who served as Georgia's Lt. Governor, Governor, and finally as a U.S. Senator. During his time in Georgia politics, Miller was instrumental in getting the Appalachian Developmental Highway (GA 515) built, hence the road's name.

During the mid-1990's, then-Governor Miller briefly favored changing the Georgia state flag (removing the Confederate battle flag from it). In protest, some "pro-flag" person spray-painted the face on the monument black. If you look closely below the nose, you will see some of that black paint left. Miller, known by some as "Zig-Zag Zell", would later change his position in favor of keeping the flag "as-is".

On our way back home, we took 515 to GA 5 Bus/372 and cut through the Ball Ground and Free Home communties in Cherokee County.

A very special "thank you" to my loving wife Mary for her support of my "roadgeeking", and hopefully, we'll have a "roadgeek scrapbook" done one of these days. :)

4 comments:

XOZ
said...

Thank you for visiting my stomping grounds ;) I tell people I "clinch" I-575 daily. Yes I really do, except that I generally exit off just shy of the southern terminus. In all, I-575 and SR 515 has been my life, so even though I'm sick of driving it, I can't deny that I-575 is the most beautiful interstate in Georgia and that SR 515 is quite nice, too (if you can stand the sprawl on it).

On the "APD" Highway sign, it must be noted that sign was installed in 1985-86 prior to the completion of SR 515. SR 515 was commissioned in early 1989, and prior to that the Jasper and Ellijay By-Passes were signed with a blue rectangular sign measuring about 24" x 18" reading "Appalachian Highway".

I only know of one of those signs left in existance, but literally the road was named just that. However, those little signs were removed after SR 515 was established with the text "APD Hwy" (as on the sign) in the marker. Those are now being phased out, however, much like on Corridor Z/SR 520.

Pages for I-575 and GA 515 are LONG overdue on my site. I watched most of both being built with most of it completed in my early childhood and the last section completed in 1989 when I was 9 years old. Judging from your blog, it looks like you grew up along 400 and watched IT being built and finished. Maybe you remember SR 9E and the temporary routing of US 19 along part of 9E in 1981?

Well, about two years ago, when I had a pollen headache, I decided to go for a drive. I drove around North and South Marietta Parkway (S.R. 120 Loop), then I ventured up I-575/S.R. 5. It was a pretty nice little drive. I drove a little past 575's northern terminus, then I U-turned back onto south S.R. 515 on the transition to I-575 South.

Thanks so much for posting this. I live off of I575, and frequenly take it north to get to the mountains. I've always wondered what APD stood for, so thank you for explaining it. I've passed numerous signs that refer to it as APD but never heard anyone refer to it by the full name until now.